


Comma Trauma

by artist_artists



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-20
Updated: 2014-01-20
Packaged: 2018-01-09 08:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artist_artists/pseuds/artist_artists
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine wants to get to know Kurt as soon as he sees him walking across the quad. He changes his mind after the first time they talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comma Trauma

**Author's Note:**

> This fic also includes Blam and Kurtcedes friendships, very minor off-screen Kurt/OMC, and background Samcedes.

Blaine first notices him on move-in day for the upperclassmen.

They don’t talk - Blaine just sees him walking across the quad with a purpose, phone pressed to his ear, not paying attention to the world around him. Blaine’s a freshman who’s been on campus for a few days going through orientation, and even though he isn’t the type of guy who normally catches his attention, Blaine can’t help but watch him from the place where he’s sprawled out on the grass. He’d vowed before moving out here for school that he’d be more open to new experiences - specifically, new experiences with boys. He’d come out at 14, and the only thing close to a date he’d ever been on with another boy had resulted in being sent to the hospital. Understandably, even after he’d transferred schools, the idea of going on another date had been a bit scary. But he’s in New York now, and he’s an adult, and there are hot guys all over this campus. Blaine knows he’s talented and he’s not bad-looking. In his private high school, he’d been the star of the show choir and been hit on by dozens of classmates. He knows it’s time to stop being afraid.

Blaine’s only been here for a couple of days, but he’s been noticing a _lot._

“That guy on the phone is pretty attractive,” he says to Nicole, who’s lying next to him. They’d met the first day of orientation and live in the same dorm, and he finds her company far preferable to that of his grumpy roommate. “The one one with the hair.”

She lifts her head a bit to get a better look. “He looks like a jerk.”

“He’s probably just busy,” Blaine counters.

“We’re in college,” she says, exasperated. “You need someone less uptight.”

Blaine doesn’t reply, prefers not to argue with a new friend, but he watches the guy until he enters the student union building and can’t help but hope to see him in some of his classes.

He gets his wish a few days later on the first day of his Composition class. He’s been sitting around for 10 minutes waiting for class to get started when the guy from the quad breezes in one minute before 10am and takes a seat on the other side of the classroom. Blaine’s disappointed that they’re not closer, but it would look strange if he got up to change his seat now, so he stays put. The professor’s first day roll call at least provides him with a name - Kurt Hummel. After class, Kurt disappears quickly, but Blaine isn’t too discouraged. They share a class together. He has plenty of time to engage this guy in conversation.

Despite Blaine’s attempts to predict where Kurt will sit if he gets there first, Kurt always moves to a different area of the classroom. Blaine’s too nervous about being late to try and arrive after Kurt, so they never end up sitting close together. It takes a few weeks for the opportunity to arise naturally - well, _almost_ naturally. Their professor is having them partner off to peer edit the rough drafts of their first pieces of writing, and though Kurt is sitting on the opposite side of the classroom, there’s no one in his general vicinity to partner up with him immediately. Blaine grabs his paper and darts across the room as quickly as possible before dropping into the chair besides a startled Kurt.

“Wanna partner up?” he asks, flashing Kurt his most charming smile. He’s putting a lot of hope in Kurt right now. His attempts at meeting guys in the past few weeks haven’t gone all that well. There was Jeremy, who seemed nice until he made some racist remarks, Kevin, who had a boyfriend back home, and Tim, who, in a move that Blaine couldn’t understand, had backed off as soon as Blaine mentioned joining some of the LGBT organizations at the school. Everyone else hadn’t even been interesting enough to keep Blaine’s attention for more than five minutes, but he was still holding out for Kurt, who held a certain mystique.

Kurt didn’t answer Blaine’s question, just took the paper he was offering, and slid his own paper to the edge of his desk where Blaine could pick it up. Blaine tried not to be too discouraged. Kurt didn’t seem overly friendly, but maybe he would be once they finished reading and got to talk about the papers. They’d been asked to describe a personal sanctuary, and Blaine had written what he thought was a pretty good piece on Dalton. He hoped Kurt would be impressed.

Kurt’s own piece was a beautifully written description of a tire shop owned by his dad, and Blaine, who had initially feared how well he would lie to Kurt about his paper if it ended up being bad, is captivated through the whole short essay. When he looks up at the end, he sees Kurt writing in red pen on Blaine’s paper, and tries not to be too offended. It’s a peer edit after all - they’re supposed to be helping each other.

“This is really great, Kurt,” Blaine tells him. “I loved it. I really _felt_ how safe you felt there. I found one typo on the last page that I marked, but I really don’t think you need to do much editing to this at all.”

“Thanks,” Kurt says, making a last note on Blaine’s paper before handing it back and taking his own. “Yours is riddled with mistakes.”

Blaine frowns. “It is?”

Kurt gives him a curt nod. “Comma issues, mostly. Did your fancy private school not have grammar and punctuation lessons? I feel like I added 100 commas into this thing. I know this is a 100 level class that’s required for everyone, but _god._ ”

Blaine’s speechless for a moment, so shocked by the harsh criticism, before he can reply. “It’s a rough draft,” he says eventually. “I didn’t do a lot of proofreading. I do… I mean, of course I know how to use commas.”

“You should use them, then,” Kurt says, turning to his own paper. Blaine understands that the conversation is over. He feels slightly cheated, not getting any feedback on the actual content of his piece, but after Kurt’s reaction to the commas, Blaine’s not even sure he’d want to listen to what Kurt has to think about the essay.

He crosses Kurt off his mental list of potential guys to date immediately, but they don’t stop seeing each other. Kurt starts working a Thursday afternoon shift at the coffee cart located in the lobby of the Humanities building, and he’s there every time Blaine stops in after his voice class to pick up an espresso so he can get caffeinated and deal with the rest of his long Thursday schedule. Blaine smiles politely, because even if Kurt is rude, Blaine still treats everyone with manners. Kurt doesn’t ever smile at work - actually, Blaine has never seen him smile at all - so it’s never returned, and Kurt shows no indication that they’ve ever met. Blaine wishes it didn’t bother him quite so much.

After the fall semester ends and Blaine returns from winter break, things start to look up in the romance department. His schedule is a bit more manageable, no long Thursdays, and he meets a guy named Bryan in his dance class who’s kind and attractive. They’re exclusive by the end of January, and even though Blaine can tell pretty quickly that they are not destined to be together forever due to Bryan’s clinginess and his aversion to laughter, it’s a positive experience overall. It may not be everything Blaine dreamed of in a relationship, but they enjoy their time together, and Blaine loves being able to hold hands with someone in public, loves how Bryan always wants to share meals with him in the dining hall and how willing Bryan is to offer up compliments. He loves the sex, too, and is happy to dispose of his virginity with someone he has positive feelings about, even if it takes them awhile to start getting really good at stuff.

One of the best parts about the relationship with Bryan is meeting his roommate, Sam. Blaine’s own roommate has never been friendly or terribly interested in Blaine, but Sam is bright and friendly, and he and Blaine strike up a quick friendship. They don’t hang out too much outside of Bryan’s room, but when Bryan mentions that he’d rather not live with Sam next year due to Sam’s issues with keeping his side of the room orderly, Blaine is quick to ask Sam to be his roommate the next year. The idea of being roommates with someone who’s not practically a stranger to him is thrilling.

Blaine and Bryan end things with little drama when the spring semester ends. They’re both going their separate ways that summer, Blaine back to Ohio and Bryan to his home in Nevada. Bryan’s not as adamant about the break-up as Blaine is, but he agrees - the distance would be too hard.

He comes back to New York in the fall with only an ill-advised drunken hook-up at _Scandals_ to his name, ready to take on the dating world again. Blaine had loved his freshman year, but sophomore year is even more exciting with his best friend sharing a room with him and all of his first year college jitters gone.

He doesn’t think much of Kurt until a few weeks into the semester when Sam takes him to a sorority party one weekend. A girl Sam dated in high school is in the sorority, and he’s been trying to get their relationship started again, but he doesn’t want to go alone.

“Mercedes is really great,” Sam is telling him for the thousandth time as they enter the house. “She’s perfect for me. You’re gonna love her.”

After Sam introduced him to Mercedes and a few of her friends, Blaine excuses himself to go get a drink. He pours a few cups of whiskey mixed with coke for himself and Sam, but when he turns away from the table, he crashes into a guy who had been walking right behind him. Blaine tries to stop the drinks from spilling, but it’s impossible, and they end up drenching the guy he’s bumped into.

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” Blaine says once the empty cups have hit the floor. “So, _so,_ sorry, I--” he cuts himself off when he looks up at the guy and realizes with horror that it’s _Kurt_ , and he’s wearing a white shirt that is now covered in whiskey and coke. Kurt was unfriendly to Blaine even in neutral circumstances, but now that Blaine has dumped a bunch of liquor and soda on him… well, Blaine thinks he’ll be lucky to leave this party alive. “I’ll buy you a new shirt,” he blurts out, and Kurt, for some reason, bursts out laughing.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, waving a hand. “I don’t wear expensive things to parties full of drunk college kids.”

Blaine’s eyes widen in shock at Kurt’s reaction. “I… um, okay. Can I help you clean up? I am so sorry, I was being clumsy, and--”

“All you did was turn,” Kurt says with a shrug. He’s smiling, his eyes are twinkling in delight, and it’s a wonderful look on him. Blaine’s only ever seen him looking cross or disinterested, and now he’s-- oh, he’s _drunk_ , Blaine finally realizes when Kurt continues. “It was just as much my fault as yours. Hey, you’re that guy… 1:45 espresso!”

“The one and only,” Blaine says, grinning. He hasn’t seen Kurt at the coffee cart in almost nine months, and he can’t believe he remembers. “I’m Blaine. I was in your Composition class last fall, too.”

“Right, you wrote the essay on Dalton,” Kurt replies. “Well, it’s good to see you again, Blaine. I have to go raid one of the girls' rooms for a replacement shirt.”

He leaves Blaine with a warm smile and the unsettling feeling that evil twins might _actually_ exist.

“I totally think evil twins exist,” Sam agrees the next day when they’re in their dorm room recovering from their hangovers. “But Kurt doesn’t have one. Kurt’s awesome.”

“I can’t believe you went to high school with Kurt,” Blaine says, shaking his head. Sam had mentioned it after Blaine discussed their run-in last night, but it’s taking a long time to sink in. “That’s so _weird._ But just because he’s your friend doesn’t mean he can’t be awful sometimes.”

“Don’t let Mercedes hear you say that,” warns Sam.

“You should’ve heard how mean he was about my essay last year!” Blaine exclaims. “He asked if my private school even taught me how to use punctuation!”

“Did they? I’m not sure my high school did, honestly.”  
  


“I _know_ how to use commas,” Blaine insists. “It was a rough draft! It hadn’t been given a thorough read-through. He was just… _so_ offended by those commas. Like he had some sort of weird comma trauma at some point that I was making him relive.”

“Comma Trauma would be a good band name,” says Sam absently, and Blaine just barrels on.

“And the weirdest thing is that he was so _smiley_ last night, like he was this really pleasant person--”

“He is, though,” Sam interrupts.

“I just can’t picture you guys as friends.”

“Why, because he’s gay?” challenges Sam. “Because in case you haven’t noticed, you are, too, and we get along pretty well.”

“Because he’s just so… cold, usually.”

“Nah, Kurt’s, like, super nice. He gave me all these really weird clothes to wear when my family was living in that hotel, _and_ he didn’t tell anyone about it.”

Blaine frowns. “So it’s just me he hates, then?”

“You said he was nice to you last night,” Sam says, rolling his eyes. “Maybe your commas just sucked. Deal with it.”

“He wasn’t nice to me at the coffee cart, either. I got a drink from him every Thursday and he never smiled.”

“Who smiles when they work at the coffee cart? Can you even imagine how terrible that must be?”

Blaine’s quiet for a moment. “I, um… used to think he was pretty cute.”

Sam gives him a teasing grin. “The truth comes out! I’d set you guys up, but he has a boyfriend.”

“I don’t want to be set up,” Blaine scoffs.

It doesn’t stop him from hastily agreeing to a shopping trip Mercedes invites him to a few weeks later with Kurt and a few girls from the sorority. When they walk up to a lingerie store, Mercedes makes a loud proclamation that Kurt and Blaine are not invited inside.

“Even though both of you are gay, some of us are a bit uncomfortable with you watching us try on bras,” she says. “Go sit down next door and have smoothies.”

Kurt rolls his eyes but doesn’t protest as he leads a confused Blaine to the smoothie shop next door. “I always go with them to places like that,” he says once they’re in line. “This was just an excuse for them to make sure we both know we’re gay. Poorly executed, really.”

“I never would have figured it out,” Blaine admits. “Why do they care?”

Kurt shrugs. “Trying to set us up. They don’t care for how I handle my love life. Sorry about their meddling.”

“It’s totally fine,” Blaine assures him, but he’s a little disappointed that Kurt doesn’t seem to even be entertaining the possibility. “Uh, Sam told me you have a boyfriend. Does he go to school with us? I don’t think I’ve seen you with him.”

“He’s not really my boyfriend,” Kurt says. “But yeah, he’s a senior.”

Blaine wants to know more, but Kurt doesn’t seem terribly interested in the topic, and he doesn’t want to ruin their day. “So, uh, I don’t know if Sam told you, but I went to high school pretty close to you guys. It’s pretty crazy that we were all so close to each other.”

“You wrote about Dalton in that essay last year, so I figured you were from Ohio,” Kurt says. “Mercedes told me you were part of the show choir there.”

“I was the lead,” Blaine says proudly. “I mean, usually. It’s a shame we never faced you guys in competition.”

“It’s probably for the best.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

Kurt gives him a playful smile. “We would have destroyed you.”

By the end of October, Sam and Mercedes are dating again, and the increased contact between the two of them means Blaine and Sam are both integrated into their group of friends, so Blaine sees Kurt a lot more. They’re becoming closer, and Blaine’s crush is back in full force. Kurt’s not-boyfriend and the threat of crushing disappointment are the only two reasons Blaine holds back from asking him out, and one day in late fall, the former suddenly isn’t an issue anymore.

“How come I’ve never met the guy you’re seeing before?” Blaine asks one day when he’s met up with Kurt for lunch. He can’t deal with the curiosity anymore. Sam and Mercedes have always told him it’s that the two don’t like each other, but that doesn’t make much sense to Blaine. Why hang out with someone you dislike?

“I’m not seeing him anymore,” Kurt says simply. “It was stupid. After I transferred here, I was just… this is going to sound bad,” he says, giving Blaine a pleading look.

“I won’t judge,” Blaine assures him.

“I’d never really had a guy be interested in me before until I moved here, so I sort of… went with it when he approached me.”

Blaine huffs out a laugh. “That’s uh… pretty much the exact thing I did my first year here, too. I had nothing in common with the guy really, it was just nice to have someone.”

“That does make me feel better,” Kurt says. “I had nothing in common with this guy, either, and he’s not really out, so it all had to be a secret.”

“Oh, god, that’s awful.”

“It’s… whatever,” says Kurt with a shrug. “I get it, you know? It’s not my place to judge what he wants to do, but it’s just _so_ not where I am, and it took me way too long to realize that.”

Blaine can’t help but feel hopeful. “But you ended things?”

Kurt nods. “A few weeks ago. I think both of us are relieved honestly. But yeah, that night Mercedes took me out for a celebration dinner? We weren’t actually celebrating a good grade. I just didn’t really want to share my drama with you, you’re so… not into any of that stuff, you never have issues with anyone.”

“Sorry I asked,” Blaine says sincerely. “I didn’t realize it was secret for a reason, I--”

Kurt cuts him off. “It’s fine, Blaine,” he says, smiling. “I didn’t like not telling you, anyway. And you asking is a pretty good way to segue into the reason I asked you out to lunch today. Or, uh… asked you to meet me for lunch,” he corrects himself, suddenly nervous.

Blaine feels his throat go dry. “Oh?”

Kurt takes a deep breath. “I was wondering if you’d want to meet up for dinner somewhere? Like, not on campus. Whenever you’re free. As more of a date.”

“Yes, definitely, let’s,” Blaine says, so quickly he almost cuts off the end of Kurt’s sentence. Kurt body sags in relief, and his grin is huge.

“Thank god,” he says, slumping back in his chair. “You have no idea how nervous I was to ask that. I’ve been psyching myself up for days.”

Blaine returns his grin. “I’ve wanted to ask you out ever since we started hanging out after that party. Actually, no - before then. I had a crush on you last year in Comp, before I talked to you, but then you were so mean to me that I--”

“I was rude to you?” Kurt asks, concerned. “When?”

“When we peer-edited the papers!”

“But I loved your essay,” protests Kurt.

Blaine snorts. “You didn’t like my use of commas. You said it was like my private school didn’t have classes in grammar and punctuation. I can’t believe you remembered my coffee order, but not that.”

“Ohhhh,” Kurt says. “The commas, right. To be fair, you really did do horrible with them. It was appalling.”

“It was a _rough draft_ ,” Blaine says, unable to control his pout.

“You’re adorable when you do that,” Kurt says, and Blaine feels his face flush at the praise. “I’m sorry if I was ruder than necessary. The beginning of that first semester was terrible for me, and I was bitter about taking a Composition course geared at freshmen just because the school wouldn’t take transfer credits for the writing course I took before…” Kurt seems so sad that Blaine wants to reach out and touch him, but before he can, Kurt shakes his head a bit, like he’s trying to rid himself of the memories, then gives Blaine a playful smile. “If it makes you feel better, all the essays I did peer edits of that year were terrible with commas _and_ weren’t nearly as interesting as yours.”

Blaine huffs out a laugh. “That does help a bit, actually.”

They sit there grinning at each other for a minute, and Blaine loves seeing his own joy reflected back at him on Kurt’s face. Eventually, Blaine speaks again.

“Are you free to go out tonight?” he asks Kurt. “We’ve both been waiting for a pretty long time.”


End file.
